The crane came down just as a weather front packing high wind gusts. NBC 5 Meteorologist Grant Johnston said 50-mph winds were blowing at the time, although it is not yet known whether the wind caused the collapse, NBCDFW.com reported.

UT Dallas asked students, staff and faculty to avoid the southeast side of campus.

Two construction workers died when a crane collapsed on the University of Texas at Dallas' Richardson campus. CNBC's Amanda Drury reports.

Campus officials released the following statement:

"There was an accident on the UT Dallas campus Saturday afternoon during the dismantling of a construction crane at the Arts and Technology Building. Two workers with an outside construction company are reported deceased. There are no reports of UT Dallas students, staff, or faculty injured in this accident."